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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Paradise Lost
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(1667) Epic poem by John *Milton, conceived in the 1640s, dictated 1658–63, but not published until 1667. The opening lines proclaim that its subject is 'man's first disobedience' and its purpose to 'justify the ways of God to man'. Using the first three chapters of Genesis as his springboard, Milton builds mighty edifices from the fall of Satan and his rebel angels (he coined the name Pandemonium for their kingdom), the struggle between them and the archangels, the promise of redemption through Christ, the innocence and temptation of Adam and Eve, and their expulsion from paradise.
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Paradise Regained (1671) is a much shorter work, concentrating on the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. Paradise is regained through Christ's resisting Satan, just as it was lost when Adam and Eve succumbed to him.
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